Dilfer says zeno ‘questionable’ for tulane game

Jalen Kitna could get the nod at quarterback for UAB in their 10/5 home game against Tulane.

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - October 2, 2024

UAB could be without starting quarterback Jacob Zeno during this week’s American Athletic Conference against visiting Tulane. UAB head coach Trent Dilfer said after Wednesday’s practice that Zeno is “questionable” because of problems with his left (non-throwing) shoulder.

“Undecided,” Dilfer said. “Jacob is dealing with a really tough shoulder. (He) had a MRI Tuesday. We’re waiting to see what it is. It’s either an extremely bad bruise or something else more serious. We’re waiting to see on that one.”

Dilfer said Zeno has been dealing with a sore shoulder for the past couple of weeks and it got worse during Saturday’s loss to Navy. Zeno had his left arm in a sling following the game.

“In the game, he scrambled like 12 times or something,” Dilfer said. “He took some shots, landed on it on the sidelines. He can’t remember exactly which one it really was but it’s hanging, he can’t do much with it. I watched him try to lift Monday and it wasn’t very good.”

Dilfer said he would upgrade Zeno to doubtful if he doesn’t make improvement before Thursday’s practice. Zeno has taken nearly every snap for the UAB offense this season. Jalen Kitna would take over the starting spot if Zeno cannot play. Landry Lyddy would become the backup quarterback. Kitna has not played this season. The last time he played in a game came on Nov. 22, 2022 as a redshirt freshman at Florida.

Dilfer said the offense won’t change much with a new quarterback.

“Not really, very similar athletes,” Dilfer said. “Jalen and Landry, both have done really good jobs of getting quality backup reps the best you can. Mort does a great job of giving the guy that’s not starting quality reps, more than I got when I was a backup. There is a good baseline of offense and we’re not that far from training camp when everything was split reps. We’re only five weeks removed from that. We feel like there’s enough banked reps that we can do a good piece of what we want to do.”